


…But My Strength Is in Administration

by lemonfish



Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: Corporate!AU, M/M, Treville is a coy SOB, ruthless corporate Richelieu doesn't know what to do with a handsome man coming on to him, that's why we love him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-25 14:05:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4963525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemonfish/pseuds/lemonfish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>CFO!Richelieu and Head of Security!Treville. That's it, that's the joke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	…But My Strength Is in Administration

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Belle and Sebastian's [Step into My Office, Baby](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YObYOHIZkk), because I'm physically incapable of giving titles that aren't song-related.
> 
> Enjoy the fluff! Flustered Richelieu is my favourite Richelieu, and I hope you like him too.

Surely Richelieu’s time is too valuable for him to spend this much time cooped up in board meetings. Alas, as a member of the board of directors, his presence is rather expected.

Doesn’t mean it’s not a waste of time, though. He already knows that the best medium-term solution to the revenue shortfall is to close down the Albany factory and move all operations to Rochester, but unfortunately, he still has to spend the next five hours listening to the other board members have fierce arguments over useless options, because they are all focusing on Virginia for some reason. 

If he could have his way he would just implement his solution and move on to merger possibilities, but Louis Bourbon, the CEO whose family happens to have started Bourbon Industries and owned it for the last couple of hundred years, wants to hear everyone out. So there Richelieu sits, trying very hard to look interested.

Richelieu blames this boredom for the fact that at the moment, he’s staring quite intently at the CEO’s head of security’s ass.

It’s not like he’s even looked at this man before, but Richelieu’s been dimly aware of him ever since he started a few weeks ago. Treville, his mind supplies. A military background, Richelieu can tell from his bearing. Hovering protectively around Louis at a discreet distance, the man doesn’t draw attention to himself, as any good head of security should. 

Right now, as Richelieu is trapped with Louis and the rest of the board in the meeting room, he can see Treville keeping busy outside, giving orders to his security team and making sure everyone’s at their stations. With the easy way Treville wields command over his men, combined with what Richelieu now sees are devastating good looks, it’s easy for Richelieu to see him as a take-charge man of action, and even easier for him to imagine the head of security with his shirt off.

Richelieu is so caught up in his reverie that it takes him an embarrassingly long time to register that Treville is staring back at him. He only realizes when they’ve held each other’s gazes for quite a few seconds already without him noticing. Treville is smiling.

And the bastard winks.

Richelieu promptly falls off his chair.

Everyone in the board room turns to him, alarmed. ‘Are you all right?’ Bonacieux, the marketing VP, asks, rushing towards his side to help him off the floor.

‘This chair is broken,’ Richelieu declares as he gets up. Two other board members run outside to get him a new chair, almost tripping over each other in an effort to do so first.

As the chair’s rolled in, he looks outside the meeting room and sees Treville’s smile grow wider. Then, he turns away from Richelieu to leave, presumably to carry on with his duties.

 _It really is a very fine ass_ , Richelieu thinks as Treville walks away. With a sigh, he turns his mind back to the meeting.

* * *

Being in the office by 5 am is a habit for Richelieu every time June rolls around, as July is when the fiscal year ends and every single department suddenly remembers that they haven’t made their budgets for the next year. Which means that around this time, Richelieu is always inundated with budget requests that he has to sort through; he could always assign the grunt work to a subordinate, of course, but Richelieu likes being hands-on. It’s what’s gotten him this far in the first place, why everyone else is intimidated by his encyclopedic knowledge of all aspects of the business.

Richelieu finds some joy in having to be at work so early, too; when almost nobody’s in the building yet, he can ease into the work day, revelling in the silence, enjoying the solitude, and knocking out a couple of optimized budgets before anyone else even shows up.

So it’s a surprise when he pushes the button for his floor in the elevator and someone else enters right behind him. ‘Good morning, Mr Richelieu,’ the other man intones in an impossibly sexy voice, and Richelieu’s knees almost buckle.

‘Yes, well,’ he manages to cough out. He looks to see who’s intruded on his early morning peace and quiet. Because God just _loves_ Richelieu especially and wishes nothing but the best for him, it’s Treville, sporting the same roguish smile from a few days back. Richelieu curses his luck.

‘You know, that chair wasn’t broken after all,’ Treville quips as he moves to the back of the elevator.

Richelieu watches the elevator doors close with an intensity that could burn a hole right through them. 

‘I double-checked just to make sure,’ Treville adds cheerily. ‘It would look bad for me to let the CFO get injured under my watch.’

Richelieu has had just about enough. He turns around to face Treville to give him a piece of his mind. He’s got a whole speech about respect and company hierarchy ready to go.

He opens his mouth to start yelling; instead, he ends up yawning. A lot. Treville’s smile just grows wider. Well, this is embarrassing.

_DING!_

He decides to save what’s left of his dignity and runs to his office the moment the elevator doors open.

* * *

Just as Richelieu has opened up his laptop to start working, there’s a knock on his door. He looks up to see Treville holding a mug. ‘May I come in?’, he asks. Richelieu nods.

‘You seemed like you needed some strong coffee,’ Treville says. ‘I brought these beans in myself.’

Richelieu takes the proffered mug and drinks. It’s a perfect cup of coffee; strong with just a note of sweetness. ‘Thank you.’

‘We got off on the wrong foot, so I felt I had to make amends.’ Treville sits down. ‘I’m sorry I haven’t been able to sit down with you until now. I haven’t been here long, but I feel protective of Mr Bourbon already. And this company. And despite your official position as CFO, I know you’re the real brains behind this whole operation. So I’d like for us to work together more closely moving forward.’

Richelieu considers this. It would be beneficial for him to work with security. Before Treville’s tenure, there were a few incidents with leaked documents that compromised their major projects, not to mention other lapses that have cost the company millions; if they work together, they can implement stricter protocols to prevent re-occurrences. He could also get Treville’s input on the state of security over the last few years and how he sees the department moving forward.

‘On one condition,’ Richelieu says.

‘Of course. What is it?’

‘You bring me this coffee every morning.’

Treville smiles. Richelieu really does like it when he smiles. ‘Done.’ He offers his hand to Richelieu to seal the deal.

Richelieu stands up and shakes Treville’s hand. For several seconds. And a few more. The feeling of Treville’s slightly callused palms feels almost sensual against his own. They’re still shaking hands. Well, not so much shaking as just holding hands across Richelieu’s desk, at this point. Treville’s thumb is slowly stroking the back of Richelieu’s hand. They’re holding each other’s gazes, not quite sure what’s happening, but not wanting it to end.

So of course the phone rings.

Both of them let go and jump back, jolted back to reality. ‘Well, I have to take this —’ Richelieu starts —

‘I have to get back to my office —‘ Treville says at the same time. He turns to leave.

As Richelieu starts talking on the phone, he watches Treville walk out of the room. But just before he gets to the door, he pauses. ‘I think I dropped something,’ he says. And the shameless cad bends over in full view of Richelieu to pick the supposed item up.

‘Yes, we're ready to — uh …’ 

_It really is a very fine ass_ , he thinks.

‘Uh … er … I’m sorry … uh … what were you saying?’ he says into the phone.

Treville straightens up and leaves without a second glance, but Richelieu can tell that he’s laughing. _That man is going to be the death of me._

He’s already looking forward to coffee tomorrow.


End file.
